I made a mouse! This is only small, but saints alive, it took a long time. He must’ve had about 8 different faces.
I almost gave up (and err… took his head off to make a rabbit 🙊) but in the end I refused to be beaten. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t get his nose and mouth right. I almost left the mouth off, but I gave it one last try, and that was the one that stuck. Looking on Ravelry, I think a few other people have had trouble too. It’s not hard to do technically, but it is hard to make it look cute for some reason. I think perhaps I didn’t pad his cheeks enough, so his face is a bit pointy.
Here he is in my hand for scale. You can’t see clearly but I stitched a tiny white highlight in each eye. I’ve seen some of the brilliant Japanese knitters on Instagram do this, and I was desperate for anything that would make his face work, so I copied them. It’s not bad actually. Might do it again if I make another toy.
For the photoshoot I got out some odds and ends I made a while ago. A little basket, a toadstool, a strawberry and some acorns. I don’t know why I knit these things, but sometimes, I can’t help myself. Actually, I really like the patterns for the strawberry and the method for constructing the mushroom. The pattern is from Shinocraft – for the acorns too. Even just looking at that toadstool makes me want to knit another one. Or a radish. What is wrong with me?
In the meantime I’m still making a shawl that I thought I’d have finished by now. (Oof, just looking at previous posts – I started this shawl In February.) It’s okay, but a bit of a slog. I’m also knitting it on a cable needle and I the cable snapped, which wasn’t the greatest. I thought about unravelling the whole thing, but actually, I would like the finished shawl. In the end I managed to pick up about 200 stitches and get them onto another needle. I’m tempted to move into the ribbed portion of the shawl now, just to get it done. We’ll see.
Last night I was chatting to a friend who has started doing crewel work, but with silks rather than wool. I ended up showing her my tatting, (I’ve known her for about 18 years, not sure why this hasn’t come up before) and she loved the idea of it—so much so, she was going to look it up and buy a shuttle. I had a little panic that I wouldn’t remember how to do it, as it’s been so long, but luckily it’s all still there. I should probably start doing it again. I miss it.
Occasional Crafter 
It is always a surprise and a pleasure to wake up in Melbourne to one of your occasional posts. Your work is absolutely beautiful, both knitting and tatting. Thank you for sharing it. Your photos give me incentive to keep tatting!
Carol
Melbourne
You’re so kind – thank you! (Also, this cheered me up. I’d literally just snapped the new needle I put the shawl onto.) What are you tatting? It’s definitely coming up to snowflake season here… but maybe not there 🙂
No definitely not snowflake weather here, but I would love to be in Worcester again as we were last Christmas with our daughter and her family.
I do like tatting snowflakes! And I have just found a Christmas wreath/brooch with lots of red beads added onto green thread, a bit similar to the Mary Konior pattern that you do so well! I will start that soon as Christmas is approaching so fast and there is lots to do.
Carol
Ahh that sounds perfect! Yep, I think it probably is time to dust of my shuttles and join you.
I share your pain. I learned aeons ago that knitted dolls live or die according to their facial expressions (and the stuffing – you can’t bung in too much in my opinion) I now go to the bother of measuring the distance between the eyes, the nose (if there is one) and mouth to get the cutest proportions, in order to avoid something that looks demonic. I’m currently finishing off two dolls for the granddaughters by Louise Crowther. Had seen her books before but thought the dolls looked just AWFUL – how wrong was I, they’re brilliant and I’ve learned some new techniques. Nothing deranged about knitting acorns etc 🙂 Knitting is just so addictive. I also sew white cotton ‘glints’ onto the eyes
Wow – measuring the distance is interesting. I don’t know why more people don’t stress over this. So many toys are so beautifully knitted and then end up… not quite as nice as they should be.
Super interesting about the Louise Crowther dolls – are you doing the actual dolls or the animals? I’ve wondered about making these too.
Also – haha – I just looked up her page on Amazon and she says “I am a British knitting designer who loves knitting dolls, toys and decorations – basically anything that is small and neat and you don’t need to worry about whether it will fit you or not when you’ve finished!”
A woman after my own heart!
I’ve always preferred knitting dolls/decorations to garments; the process is less monotonous and the end result so much more interesting. I’m doing the dolls. The animals don’t interest me at all, except for her multi coloured monkey on ravelry which I’m aiming to do. The dolls’ heads were the most fiddly, difficult part as they use the kitchener stitch to join the tops of the head, which I’d never heard of. It was their square heads that put me off to begin with, and their overly long spindly arms, but in reality they look so much better.
By measuring the face, I mean I look closely at the photos of dolls done by the pros (in the books) and count how many stitches from the hair to the eyes, then how many are between the eyes, then how many down to the mouth, so I replicate their work as closely as I can. Of course if they’re animals I just go from the top of the head, or the ears etc. Another really good tip is to use pins with coloured heads. I place black headed pins for the eyes and a red one for the mouth, it really works ‘cos you can visualise it beforehand. Like you, I’m amazed at the little attention other knitters pay to the face, it really does bring them alive.
Ahh, yes. Kitchener stitch is also used to finish off socks. It’s actually fine once you get into a rhythm but you do need (ok, I do need) to pay attention. I have been known to slightly hypnotise myself and mess it up. Lots of good videos on YouTube!
And yes – pins to get the eyes in place is a good tip! Looking forward to seeing the dolls, if you share photos 🙂